When applying to the ODP, make SURE you do so to the right category.

Or else, bad things may happen.

[rfgdxm1]

While many reading here are savvy enough to know this, I post this for newbies who may not. I just went through a pile of unrevieweds as an ODP editor today, and the percentage that were submitted to the wrong cat was huge. :( And many of these unreviewed were well over a year old. The reason why submitting to the right cat is so important is that likely these unrevieweds I sent off elsewhere will end up in a queue unlooked at for another year or so. Obviously bad for the submitters. This can be made worse by the fact that the editor may not send these off to Test/Misplaced which tends to be edited by taxonomy experts, but instead take a wild stab at where they think it goes. If most ODP editors are like me, they know very little about things outside of the area they edit in the ODP. Which can mean the editor will send it off to the wrong cat, where it will sit for a year before some other editor sends it off to yet a third cat. I had one case where this happened several times with a site submitted in the year 2000! Put in a nutshell, submitting to exactly the right cat at the ODP can greatly speed up approval times. Unless, of course you don't mind if your site isn't listed until the year 2006. ;)

[TheDave]

Thank you, very much, and thanks for the news on it's appearance in DMOZ.

As a side note, I'm not the policy maker, so I'm quite powerless to do anything apart from apply pressure (as I have been) to get it done. This will add weight, so thank you for explaining that to me.

[edit]sp[/edit]

[hutcheson]

>I'm quite powerless to do anything apart from apply pressure (as I have been) to get it done.

Not exactly. You're powerless except to offer help.

You offered help -- that is, a site and a suggested category. Because you hadn't read enough of the guidelines (and there are enough of them that we don't expect submitters to read them all), the category was wrong.

You can't apply pressure. Editors are volunteers, and if they don't wanna edit, they don't hafta edit -- you can't pressure them. And if you try hard enough, the editors' guidelines say they don't have to put up with it, and we can and do apply dissuasive penalties.

All you can _apply_ is guilt. "The ODP would be so much better if such-and-such a category had such-and-such kind of attention paid to it." For volunteers, that often works.

The other thing you can do is learn how the ODP works and use that to your advantage. Since you got help from an editor, you've got a good start.

Note that the "Shopping" category doesn't require ONLINE shopping. If you have a mail-order form they can print out and mail in with a personal check, or a phone number for taking orders, that's fine.

Just approach the site from a customer's viewpoint. Ask these questions:

Exactly what can I purchase?
Exactly how much will it cost?
Will they ship it to me in Ulan Bator? What are the shipping charges?
How do I order it without travelling down to Patagonia to visit the factory?
How do I pay for it?

If they can get that information from the site, it may qualify for a listing in "Shopping." (Obviously the usual "unique content" rules could still disqualify a site. But if you have a storefront that also acts as a shipping source, you probably have "unique content.")

[TheDave]

I think you've misunderstood me, I meant all I can do is apply pressure to the person who is writing the delivery policy to get the thing done. Sorry I wasnt clear enough there, and it probably didnt even need mentioning. Thanks for the extra information anyway.

[victor]

All you can _apply_ is guilt. "The ODP would be so much better if such-and-such a category had such-and-such kind of attention paid to it." For volunteers, that often works

How about applying public accolades? Prestigious (but moneyless) awards and citations from places like WebmasterWorld honoring editors with well-kept categories? Offering a prize for the fastest listin? Or the best response from an editor?

Complaints are clearly a bad way of motivating people -- so why not try compliments?

Nominate an editor today!

[hutcheson]

>How about applying public accolades?

Ah, that's often the _best_ way of applying guilt.;)

The ODP editing community has awards for "most improved category" as well as lists of "categories needing help."

But note that all of these approaches are at the _category_ level. An editor shouldn't feel a primary obligation to the _sites_ submitted, the obligation is to make the _category_ comprehensive (which will require that the sites be added if they fit.)

[cornwall]

Nominate an editor today!

Victor

I agree with you that there are many good editors in DMOZ. However the secrecy/anonymity of the system does not let the "outsider" know who has made the edits, who has a clean category, or who edits fastest.

That information is known only to the chosen few.

Accolades awarded to DMOZ editors appear to be only for internal consumption.

[John_Caius]

Have a look on some editor profiles for the more senior editors (e.g. top level editors) and you'll come across the internally-voted-for ODP editor awards scheme. There are biannual awards for best editor in each subject tree, plus best new editor in each area. There are also awards for best meta, best editall etc. and a whole host of other weird and wonderful award categories.

[g1smd]

ODP biannual awards...

Umm, better make that every 6 months, in Spring and Autumn, instead.

[cornwall]

biannual
adjective [before n, not gradable]
happening twice a year
He holds a biannual exhibition of his work in Milan.
The committee has just published its biannual report on major building projects.
Compare annual; biennial.

biennial
adjective [not gradable]
happening once every two years
Compare annual; biannual.

[John_Caius]

Phew! Got it right. ;) Thanks for the grammatical clarification.

[g1smd]

Heck, and I was using a public terminal in a library when I wrote that, and asked the woman behind the counter for confirmation.

Next time, I'll look in the darn dictionary myself.

[cornwall]

Next time, I'll look in the darn dictionary myself.

I looked in the dictionary, because I thought that the original post was correct, but was not absolutely sure ;)

[choster]

Off topic, but I think semi-annual would be acceptable here, since it is not just twice a year but about every six months. Similarly, I use "fortnightly" whenever possible/appropriate to avoid the equivocable "biweekly."